


The Spider's Spawn

by Sarcastic_Gay_Dragon



Series: Spiders and Assassins and Teenagers, Oh My! [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Family, Awesome Natasha Romanov, Boo the kitty cat, Dead May Parker (Spider-Man), Domestic Avengers, Don't ask me why, Gen, HYDRA is a piece of shit, I think I forgot some characters maybe, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Canon Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, POV Multiple, Parent Bucky Barnes, Parent Natasha Romanov, Team as Family, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, collectively one piece of shit, i don't know why, i rewrote this story and then deleted it and then reuploaded it, like at all, she's a great spider mom, sorry :(
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:42:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24079954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarcastic_Gay_Dragon/pseuds/Sarcastic_Gay_Dragon
Summary: During a mission to clear out a HYDRA facility, Bucky finds a familiar face.Or~Bucky basically raised this kid in HYDRA and now he's going to raise this kid in the Avengers Tower with the help of his highly insane family.
Relationships: Betty Brant & Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Betty Brant/Ned Leeds, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Original Male Character(s), Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker/Original Male Character(s), Wanda Maximoff & Pepper Potts & Natasha Romanov, Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Series: Spiders and Assassins and Teenagers, Oh My! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1737262
Comments: 14
Kudos: 169





	1. I'm needed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky breaks his nose, Natasha is cold, and Steve is the fourth wheel.

They’re tasked with clearing out the HYDRA bases, one by one. They’ve gone through about half of the worldwide organization, according to a HYDRA agent that had taken a plea bargain in exchange for information. For the past week they've been clearing out HYDRA bases all over Siberia.

Bucky had fought with Steve for two days prior to the mission to go with them to the facility that had held him, but steadfastly refused to give a reason other than, “I’m needed.”

Steve, only after being approached by Natasha, reluctantly agreed. Now, at the entrance to the facility, he keeps a close eye on his friend. The man is in mission mode, gun held at the ready and eyes forward.

“Alright, same thing as before. Go in teams of three and sweep the rooms one by one. Stay on the same floor until everyone has cleared the rooms. Let’s-”

Steve is cut off by Bucky. “I need to go somewhere first, alone."

The blonde frowns at his friend. “What are you talking about?”

The former HYDRA agent turns his gaze towards the Captain. “There’s something I need to do in here.”

“Then we can go as a team, Buck. You, me, and Natasha.”

Bucky glowers at him. “Not you. I’ll take Natasha with me, but not you.”

His tone left no room for argument. Steve looks hurt for a moment, then nodds. He turns to where Clint, Tony, and Wanda stand. “Looks like I’ll be joining you guys.”

Bucky glances at Natasha, who nods, and the two enter the building with the rest of the team. While the team fights the mass of HYDRA agents on the ground floor, Natasha follows Bucky to an elevator, taking down agents as they pass. They enter the elevator and Bucky punches the button for the lowest floor in the facility. They stand in silence, waiting for the elevator to come to a stop. When it does, they can see their own breath in the frigid air. Bucky pushes open the gate and is met with a couple of HYDRA agents standing guard, who are subdued quickly. With the agents out of the way, they survey the room. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out this was where they held the cryostasis chambers. Within each chamber, save for the last one, was a person that appears to be sleeping.

Natasha wanders down the line of chambers, stopping at the second to last one. Inside is a young boy with curly brown hair framing his face. His right arm stops at his elbow, and the skin above it has a large burn scar covering it. Natasha purses her lips, glancing back at Bucky.

“These were the other Winter Soldiers. They were HYDRA’s elite team of killers. They had the most kills in HYDRA history, even before the serum.” He was gazing at the other chambers, looking distant.

Natasha nods to the boy in the chamber before her. “And him?”

Bucky walks over to her, standing closely behind her. She can feel his breath on her neck as he murmurs. “He was the best of us all.”

“They called him the Winter Ghost. He was in and out in the blink of an eye, and everyone was dead before they knew what hit ‘em.”

Natasha doesn’t take her eyes off the boy. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know.”

She hums in the back of her throat. Bucky sighs and moves away, heading towards the controls of the boy’s chamber. As he opens it, he speaks.

“It’s him.”

Natasha nods. She wants more information, but she won’t push for now. The chamber hisses as it opens, and when the glass retracts fully, the boy’s body falls forward. He’s lean and muscular, but surprisingly light. Natasha catches him and carries him after Bucky, towards an adjoining room that holds rows of beds. She places him down on a bed and lets Bucky lead her out of the room. He shuts the door and locks it, then punches in a code on the keypad and flips a switch. As they watch, the lights in the room begin to heat up, until they’re bright orange. After a few minutes of silence, the boy’s eyes fly open and he sits up in the bed, looking around. Bucky enters in the code again then flips the switch off. Using his metal arm, he unlocks the door and pulls it open. Natasha slips through the doorway and into the boiling room. Bucky leaves the door open to let the cold air filter into the room, cooling it. The boy is looking around wildly. His eyes lock onto Bucky and he calms considerably, though he still looks wary.

“Я здесь, дитя. Где твоя рука?” _[I am here, child. Where’s your hand?]_

The boy looks at him, then around the room, most likely taking in the lack of HYDRA agents. Finally, he speaks.

“Я не знаю. Кто она такая?” _[I don't know. Who is she?]_

He jerks his head towards Natasha, and slides onto his feet. He takes a few unsteady steps towards Bucky before almost collapsing. Natasha, who is closer, stops him from falling. As she pulls him into her side to keep him upright, she grimaces at the contact with the still burning boy. She leads him out of the room and back into the cold air. He hisses and burrows closer to Natasha.

“Она Наташа Романов. Мы здесь, чтобы вытащить тебя, Николай.” _[She is Natasha Romanov. We’re here to get you out, Nikolai.]_

Natasha glances at Bucky with a raised eyebrow. He waves her off.

“Вон?” _[Out?]_

Before either of them can respond, a voice rings out in the air. One of the HYDRA agents had woken.

“Паук. Дождь. Три. Красный. Снег. Сорок восемь. Доброжелательный. Заход солнца. Шестнадцать. Пожар. Доброе утро, Призрак.” _[Spider. Rain. Three. Red. Snow. Forty-Eight. Benevolent. Sunset. Sixteen. Fire. Good morning, Ghost.]_

As the HYDRA agent speaks, the boy in Natasha’s arms begins to tense. Bucky puts a bullet in the agent’s head, but the damage has already been done. Nikolai jerks away from Natasha’s hold, peering at the dead HYDRA agent.

“Готовы подчиниться.” _[Ready to comply.]_

The other agent, who had woken as well, shouts just before Bucky kills him.

“Защищать средство!” _[Defend the facility!]_

Nikolai turns to the pair and tilts his head. Under different circumstances, Natasha would’ve thought he looked rather puppy-like. But the look he’s sending towards them is deadly.

“Oh boy.” Bucky mutters under his breath, just before Nikolai launches himself at him.

They fight, and Natasha takes a second to observe the boy. Even with one arm, he’s still holding his own. He grabs one of the many knives strapped to Bucky and whirls around, swiping at Natasha. She jumps out of the way in time and uses her Widow’s Bite on him. He dodges it and slashes the knife at Bucky. He’s not quick enough and hisses as the knife makes a thin line of blood appear on his cheek.

Using the distraction, Nikolai punches Bucky square in the nose. Bucky goes flying, crashing into the wall and sliding down to the ground, disoriented. His nose already has a steady stream of blood flowing from it. Natasha strikes Nikolai, which draws his attention to her. She backs up towards the elevator, then ducks under a swing and kicks him in the back of the knee, sending him to the ground. It doesn’t take long for him to recover, but it’s long enough for Natasha to call out for Steve in her comms. Seconds later, the elevator door opens and the blonde super soldier charges the boy, who stands over Natasha with the knife. Steve tackles him to the ground, wrestling the knife from his grip. Bucky, still bleeding, races forward to help Steve restrain the boy.

“Grab the mask!”

Bucky jerks his head toward the equipment hanging by the chambers, and Natasha scrambles towards it. Bucky and Steve drag the still struggling Nikolai over and Natasha manages to slip the medical mask over his head. She flips the switch that Bucky indicates, and Nikolai calms as he breathes through the mask. Eventually his eyes slip closed and the two super soldiers relax their hold on him. Steve pants, sitting on the ground next to the unconscious boy, and looks at his friend.

“This is what you had to do?”

Bucky shrugs and stands, snapping his nose back in place with a hiss. Steve stands too.

“Buck, who _is_ this kid?”

Bucky peers down at the boy for a second. “His name is Nikolai Petrov. A couple of HYDRA agents found him in ‘51. He was three years old. They brought him back and convinced their superiors that he could be trained from a young age and made into the best assassin HYDRA had. When he was six, they started experimenting. I don’t know all the details, but they had this spider they had experimented with. It was going to be used on all the Winter Soldiers, to make them even stronger with the super serum. He was the only one to get the spider bite. The super serum didn’t work on him, for whatever reason, but the bite did. Only, the bite killed the spider so he was the only one in Project Spider. They made me train him, and in the process I kind of raised him.”

Bucky glances back at the boy’s empty chamber. “They started putting him in cryostasis when he was ten. He’d been going out on missions with me to train and he messed up, almost ruined the mission. They put him in the chamber as punishment. Told him they would wake him up in a month and he would go back to training. After that, he did his best to not screw up. By the time he was twelve, he was going on solo missions. At thirteen, he was the best operative HYDRA had ever trained. He was sixteen last time I saw him. He was being put in the chamber.”

Steve raises an eyebrow. “When was that?”

Bucky looks at his friend. “1987.”

Steve whistles softly. “He still looks sixteen. He’s probably been held in cryostasis since then.”

Bucky looks down at Nikolai and Steve touches his shoulder. “Come on, the others have cleared the building.”

Bucky nods and scoops the boy up, following Steve and Natasha to the elevator and outside, where the rest of the team waits. Tony and Clint both question the boy in his arms, but nobody gives them answers until they’re on the Quinjet, heading back to the Tower.


	2. Damn Right It Is!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky and Nikolai take a vacation, Peter eats an apple, and a battle rhino makes a great pet.

The next few months are spent clearing out HYDRA facilities. Once Shield is sure HYDRA has been dismantled, Bucky and Nikolai bring up the idea of going back under cryostasis in order to remove what HYDRA has done to their minds. Steve suggests going to Wakanda to have it done, after finally being convinced it's a good idea.

“You don’t have to go through with this.”

Niko looks up at Natasha. “Yes I do. All somebody has to do is say those words, and then I’m a danger to everyone around me. I want HYDRA out of my head.”

Natasha gives him a small smile before leaning over to press a kiss to his forehead. Nikolai smiles at the gesture then leans back against the wall of the chamber. As the glass closes, he turns his head to look at the man he considered his father, before he looked forward again as the chamber seal itself closed.

* * *

**One year later**

“I’m home!”

Peter calls out as the elevator opens into the common area of the five floors the Avengers and co. live in.

“Hey, Pete!” Clint calls from the couch, not taking his eyes off the tv screen. He's finally gotten ahead of Sam in Mario Kart.

“Hey Clint. Where’s Nat?” Normally the female Avenger is the first one to greet Peter when he gets home because, as she puts it, “us spiders gotta stick together.”

“She and the good Captain got a call from T’Challa and left for Wakanda. Tony and Bruce are in their labs though.”

Peter nods and drops off his backpack in his room, frowning. It isn’t unusual for the Avengers’ allies to call them for assistance, but Clint doesn’t seem worried at all about it, which _is_ unusual. The man’s protective of his best friend, even though he knows she could kick ass.

Shrugging, he grabs an apple from the kitchen and heads down to Tony’s lab. The man smiles at him when he comes in. “Hey Spiderboy.”

“Hey Tin Can. What’re you working on?”

Tony throws a wrench at Peter, knowing he’ll catch it, before he gestures to the schematics he has pulled up. Peter looks at them. At one table was the schematics for what seems to be a bionic arm. Another table has similar schematics, though this arm stops at the elbow.

“Explain?”

Tony laughs, then sobers a few seconds later. Peter turns from the schematics to look at him, and frowns at his serious expression.

“What’s wrong? Tony?”

Tony sighs and leans against one of the tables. “Alright, look. You’ve been living with us for eight months now, and a lot is about to change.”

Peter begins to panic. “Are you kicking me out? Because that’s totally fine except I don’t have any other family so I’d be living on the street or in a foster home. And that’ll make it hard for me to go out at night and patrol and-”

“Woah, woah! Slow down kid! Nobody’s getting kicked out of the Tower, except maybe Clint if he eats all the cereal again.”

That makes Peter laugh a little.

“No, it’s actually the opposite. So if you don’t already know, Nat and Steve are currently in Wakanda.”

“Yeah, Clint told me.”

Tony nods. “Okay. Well, they’re there to bring somebody back here to the Tower. Well, two somebodies actually. They’re former HYDRA agents and they’ve been in Wakanda for the past year getting the brainwashing reversed. Nat and Steve got the call that they were testing to see if it worked, and if it does they’re moving into the Tower.”

Peter nods slowly, processing the new information. “Okay.. so what does that mean for me?”

“Well, one of them is about your age, physically anyways.”

Peter raises an eyebrow, and Tony winces. “He was born in 1948.”

“1948!”

“Yes, now hush and let me explain. His name is Nikolai, and he’s still not used to the modern world. He’s been in cryostasis since 1987, so it’s been awhile. He’s going to need help adjusting, so I was hoping you would be willing to help him.”

“Yeah, of course. Will he be going to Midtown?”

Tony nods. Peter turns back to the schematics. “So these are for them?”

“Yep. Bucky is missing his entire left arm, and I’m making a new prosthetic, since his old one is HYDRA themed. Niko’s missing his right arm up to his elbow, and we don’t even know where his prosthetic _is_ , so I’m making him a new one too. Wanna help?”

Peter nods and Tony sets him to work on the arm for Bucky. As Peter looks over the schematics, he munches happily on his apple, excited about the idea of two new people in the Tower.

* * *

The Quinjet lands in Wakanda, and Steve and Natasha walk off of it. T’Challa and Okoye stand waiting for them, and the king steps forward to shake Steve’s hand.

“Thank you for coming.”

Steve chuckles. “Thank you for letting us come.”

T’Challa laughs and begins walking inside, headed towards Shuri’s lab. The two Avengers follow. Once inside, they greet Shuri, before she leads them to a glass panel that looks into another room. Bucky and Nikolai are standing at the glass, watching the room. Two Dora Milaje are tying chains to a set of vibranium hooks embedded into the wall opposite the glass. Once they finish, they leave the room and stand in the doorway, waiting.

“What’s with the chains?”

Shuri glances at Natasha before scrolling through her tablet and pulling up a list of Russian words.

“We are going to be testing if the reversal worked by saying their trigger words. The hope is that it worked and they don’t react to the words, but if they do, they will be safe in the vibranium chains. The room is designed to spray them with anesthetic to knock them out, so we can put them back in cryostasis and keep trying.”

She looks up again, this time at the two former HYDRA agents.

“Like I said, hopefully we are just being overcautious and this is all for nothing, but better safe than sorry. We cannot have two highly trained super assassins roaming Wakanda.”

Nikolai swallows roughly and nods, and Bucky puts his hand on his shoulder.

“Alright, we are all ready. Do you have a preference on who goes first?”

Bucky and Niko have a hushed conversation in Russian, before Bucky nods. “I will.”

Shuri nods and gestures to the two Dora standing at the door. They step aside, and Bucky gives a glance to his companions before he enters the room. The Dora follow him, chaining his wrist to the wall and twisting him around so his arm is crossed behind his back. With that done, they leave the room and latch the door, standing guard in front of it.

Shuri clicks a button on her tablet, and Bucky looks up at her through the glass. “Are you ready, Sergeant Barnes?”

Bucky nods and lowers his head to look at the ground, as Shuri begins reciting the list in Russian.

“Желание. Ржавый. Семнадцать. Рассвет. Печь. Девять. Доброкачественный. Возвращение на родину. Один. Грузовой вагон. Доброе утро, солдат.” _[Longing. Rusted. Seventeen. Daybreak. Furnace. Nine. Benign. Homecoming. One. Freight car. Good morning, soldier.]_

After a second, in which everyone at the glass waits with bated breath, Bucky lifts his head with a small smile.

“Respectfully, never say those damned words again.”

Steve shouts in joy, and Shuri nods to the Dora. They open the door and unchain Bucky, who races out of the room and crashes into Steve, hugging him tightly. After he releases the blonde, he hugs Natasha, picking her up and spinning her around. Natasha laughs and presses a kiss to his lips.

Nikolai hugs Bucky, murmuring something quietly in his ear, before he steps into the room and lets the Dora chain him to the hooks. Like Bucky, they chain his left wrist before they flip him around and chain his other arm behind his back.

Niko nods up to Shuri and closes his eyes.

“Паук. Дождь. Три. Красный. Снег. Сорок восемь. Доброжелательный. Заход солнца. Шестнадцать. Пожар. Доброе утро, Призрак.”

Again, the room is filled with silence as everyone holds their breath. Finally, Nikolai opens his eyes and laughs. “Damn right it is!”

Shuri laughs, before gesturing to the two Dora. They open the door and unlock Nikolai’s arms. Once he’s free, he runs out of the room and hugs Bucky, then Natasha, who kisses his cheek happily. Then, he turns to Steve and gives him an unimpressed look when he sticks his hand out, before throwing his arm around the blonde’s neck and hugging him tightly.

After he releases Steve, he grins at Shuri, who smiles back. “Thank you so much. I’m free. For the first time in my life, I’m free of them.”

Shuri shrugs nonchalantly and looks at her tablet. “Your vitals are both stable. You are free to leave anytime you’d like.”

Niko turns to Natasha and Steve, tilting his head slightly and looking at them with wide eyes. “Can we look around Wakanda first? I’d love to see it before we leave.”

Natasha chuckles and yep, he definitely gives off a puppy-like aura when he isn’t glaring murderously at somebody. They spend a few hours exploring and learning about Wakanda with T’Challa and Okoye, and Nikolai laughs delightedly when the battle rhino licks his face.


	3. Pancakes are a Delicacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter makes a friend, Niko gets a cat, and Natasha is a good spider mom.

Peter’s on the edge of sleep when the elevator dings to signal its doors opening. It’s only 8:00, but after helping Tony for a little, he’d gone out patrolling, and swinging around the city tended to drain his energy pretty quickly.

He snaps his head up as Natasha’s face peers over the back of the couch, looking down at him in amusement. Behind her is Steve, and next to him is a man with dark hair and one arm who can only be Bucky Barnes. Standing next to him is a boy with short hair and blue eyes, and Peter notices that the right sleeve of his too big sweatshirt flattened halfway down. That must be Nikolai.

“Hey, детка паук. How was school?”

Peter laughs and jumps off the couch, hugging Natasha. “More of the same, мама паук. You must be Nikolai and Bucky. I’m Peter Parker.”

Bucky extends his hand to shake Peter’s, but Nikolai just offers an easy smile, which Peter returns. The elevator dings again, and this time Tony and Bruce steps out into the living area. Tony grins at Steve, then turns to Nikolai and Bucky.

“Nice to see you two again. I’ve got some toys for you downstairs in the lab.”

Nikolai casts a glance over to Natasha before he follows Bucky towards the elevator. Peter trails after them, tugging Natasha along. “Come see!”

When they get down to the lab, Tony shows Niko the gleaming black forearm arm he made. There’s a tiny cartoon ghost engraved on the wrist, courtesy of Peter. “Can I?”

He gestures towards Niko’s arm, and the boy nods, taking off his sweatshirt to hold it out to the billionaire. Tony takes the arm and fastens it to Niko’s elbow. He presses a small button on the wrist and takes a step back, grinning as the plates shift into place.

Niko slowly flexes each of his fingers, makes a fist, then moves his arm around. His face splits in a grin. “Thank you.”

Peter smiles at the awe on his face, then turns to the table he’d been working at earlier in the day. Sitting on it was a gleaming silver arm.

Tony gestures to Peter and he gingerly picks it up. “Mr. Bucky, sir, here’s the arm we made for you.”

“He made it, actually. I just did the schematics.”

“That’s semantics. _Anyways_ , here you go. I don’t really know how you put it on so I’ll just let you guys handle that.”

Steve takes it in his hands and waits for Bucky to take off his jacket and shirt, then helps him attach it to his shoulder. Bucky moves it around, examining it, then looks up at Peter with a warm smile.

“Thank you, it’s incredible. And please, call me Bucky.”

Peter blushes at the praises and scratches the back of his neck. “It was nothing.”

Natasha tuts, a smile on her face. “Don’t be modest. Now come on, let’s go round up the others and have a movie night.”

(They decide on the Back to the Future trilogy, and Niko falls asleep during the second movie, curled into Natasha. She smiles and tucks the blanket around his shoulders more snugly.)

* * *

The next day is Saturday, which is good because it gives Peter a chance to show Niko around New York a little. He wakes up and pads out to the kitchen for breakfast. Bucky and Niko are both awake and sitting at the counter, chatting idly in Russian while Natasha cooked at the stove.

That’s one thing that nobody ever guessed about her. The Black Widow was the best cook in the whole damn Tower.

She glances up at Peter with a smile. “Pancakes, _паучок_?”

Peter grins easily. “Yes please, мама паук.”

Peter heads to the coffee machine next to the stove and pulls up his menu. Just about every machine in the Tower is robotic. The coffee machine, for example, is a robot by the name of Spray-E (due to its tendency to spray liquid at Tony’s face during the early testing stages). Spray-E is programmed with a menu of drinks for each member of the Tower. That menu includes their favorite drinks and the drinks of a few other people, in case someone wants to be nice and make somebody else’s morning drink.

Peter, who has been all but forbidden to drink caffeine, has hot chocolate and a few types of tea on his menu. He presses the button for hot chocolate and grabs a Spider-man themed mug to fill up. Once Spray-E chirps that his hot chocolate is ready, Peter picks it up and takes a long sip. He sighs in content before sliding into the seat next to Niko. The other boy gives him a small smile before taking a sip out of his own mug (an ‘I survived New York!’ mug). Peter can smell the coffee from the cup.

Natasha turns around and sets a plate in front of Bucky with a smile. The plate has about five pancakes on it, drizzled with syrup. A few minutes later, she sets a plate in front of Niko, stacked with seven pancakes. Then, Peter gets his plate of pancakes, also stacked seven high.

He digs right in, attacking the pancakes with gusto. Beside him, Niko eats at a slower rate, laughing at Peter’s expression.

“Hey!” Peter takes a gulp of hot chocolate. “Don’t laugh, these pancakes are a delicacy!”

Natasha raises an eyebrow at the enthusiastic boy. “Really?”

Peter nods, pointing his fork at her. “Yes. Know why? ‘Cause who gets pancakes made by the freaking _Black Widow_? Three people. Therefore, delicacy.”

Natasha looks over at Bucky and Niko, the latter of whom just shrugs. “He’s got a point.”

Natasha just chuckles and eats her omelet.

* * *

After finishing breakfast and getting dressed, Peter receives a text from MJ asking if he wants to hang out, so he agrees then suggests taking Niko with him. Niko looks to Bucky, who looks to Natasha, who nods encouragingly. With that, the two say goodbye to their guardians and head out of the Tower. The February air bites as they hustle into the car Happy has waiting for them.

“Hiya, Happy! Can you take us to MJ’s house?”

Happy grumbles good naturedly at him but starts the car and heads towards the Jones residence, blasting the heat in the backseat. Peter notices Niko shivering slightly and turns a vent towards him.

“I get cold easily, too. A lot of spiders hibernate during the winter, and the ones that don’t just hate it, so I get cold super quickly.”

Niko looks up at him and nods. “I get that way too. I hated going under, cause it was so cold. Even the chamber room is freezing, so they always had to move me quickly so I didn’t pass out.”

Peter looks at him. “You were bitten by a spider?”

“Yeah. It was an experimental spider that HYDRA had been working on. Gave me superpowers.”

“Me too! I can stick to walls and run really fast. I'm super strong, too. I’ve also got these web shooters, so I can swing around the city, but that’s not a superpower, just science, which is a superpower in its own way I guess.”

Niko frowns at him. “Then why have them?”

Peter drops his voice to a whisper. “For the _aesthetic_.”

Niko just raises an eyebrow, and Peter chuckles. “Sorry, it’s modern.. slang, I guess. We’ll teach you some stuff.”

Niko just nods and settles into the seat, looking out his window. When Happy brings the car to a stop, Peter shouts his thanks and opens his door, running to the house. Niko follows at a slower pace, reaching the other boy just as the door opens. Elaine Jones smiles at Peter and pulls him into a hug, which he gladly returns.

“Hi, Mrs. Jones. This is my new friend, Niko.”

Niko smiles at Elaine. She smiles back at him, then opens the door further so they can enter.

“She’s in the living room with Betty.”

Peter smiles at the woman then leads Niko to the living room, where the two girls sit at the coffee table playing a card game.

“Hey, Loser. Who’s the new guy?”

“Hey MJ. This is Niko, he’s my new friend. Niko, this is Betty and Michelle.”

Niko offers the two a smile, and Peter tugs him down on the carpet next to him. “What’re we playing?”

“Spades. We’re almost done, then we can deal you in if you want.”

Peter nods, glancing at Niko, who shrugs. “I don’t know how to play any card games.”

MJ frowns, but doesn’t say anything. Betty smiles cheerfully. “That’s okay, we can teach you! Peter can explain what’s happening as we play, then we’ll help you during the next game.

Niko nods, and Peter begins narrating what’s happening as the girls finish their game. Finally, MJ smiles in victory and begins setting up the next game.

“Is Ned still sick?”

Betty sighs, nodding. “Yeah. He came down with that nasty cold on Thursday. Hopefully he’s better by Monday.”

Peter makes a noise of agreement, before whispering to Niko. “Ned’s awesome, he’s my best friend.”

After playing a few games of Spades, in which Niko wins the last game, the two boys leave. Happy texts Peter that he’s dealing with a security issue at the Tower and can’t pick them up, so they walk back, pressing close together to keep warm and talking about the sights around them as they go. As they pass by an alleyway, Niko stops. Peter does too, and he figures that they can both hear the quiet, distressed noises coming from the alley. Niko glances over at Peter.

“Do people usually go into dark alleys when they hear something like that?”

“No, but heroes do.”

Niko rolls his eyes. “I’m no hero, Peter.”

Peter just smiles and pulls the boy by the arm into the alley. “Not yet. Come on, help me find what’s making that noise.”

Together, they head towards the back of the alleyway, looking all around for the source of the whimpering. Finally, Nikolai calls Peter over. “Over here.”

Peter makes his way over and could’ve cooed at the tiny white kitten if the circumstances were different. The poor kitten’s covered in dirt and trying to stay warm by burrowing in a pile of old cardboard boxes. Niko looks up at Peter in alarm.

“What do we do?”

Peter crouches down next to the boy and carefully picks up the kitten. She mewls weakly, and Peter’s heart breaks a little when he sees the damage done to the kitten. She’s missing her front leg, and is shivering violently in the cold. Peter can count her ribs. Gently, he hands her over to Niko.

The boy looks even more panicked as Peter adjusts his hands to properly hold the kitten. “Why are you giving it to me?”

Peter just smiles and directs Niko’s hands to help the kitten under his sweatshirt, keeping her warm. His hand automatically stabilizes the wiggling lump. “See? You are a hero, already saving cats and everything.”

Nikolai glowers slightly, but then he smiles softly as the kitten wiggles around to get warm.

“Come on, let’s get back to the Tower and get her warm.”

They run all the way to the Tower, weaving in and out of people. Peter speeds through the front entrance, then swears. Happy hasn’t gotten around to giving Niko his badge to get in. Grabbing the boy’s free arm, the spiderling drags him over to the security desk. Peter’s favorite security person, a young woman named Lily, is sitting behind it.

“Hey Peter! Who’s your friend?”

She eyes his sweatshirt suspiciously, and Peter clears his throat.

“This is Nikolai, he’s staying with us. I think Happy made his badge, but he hasn’t been up to the penthouse in a while. Can you check for one under the name Nikolai Petrov?”

Lily hums, not taking her eyes off Niko’s chest. Peter sighs. “Don’t worry, it’s just a kitten we found.”

As if on cue, the kitten mewls from her place under Nikolai’s sweatshirt. Lily chuckles slightly and types something on her keyboard, scanning the computer screen. She nods and opens a drawer next to her. From it, she pulled out a silver badge hanging from a red lanyard.

“Got it right here. Nikolai Petrov, level 11. Here you go, young man. Remember, SI does not allow reprints, even for residents, so make sure you don’t lose that badge.”

Lily smiles at Niko and hands the badge over. He takes it with a polite smile and slips it around his neck, before following Peter through the security door. FRIDAY calls out as the former HYDRA agent passes through.

“Nikolai Petrov, level 11, resident. Welcome home, Nikolai.”

Peter passes through and gets the same greeting, before they both head for the private elevator. It was faster than the elevator used by the employees of SI, and could access the penthouse levels. When the elevator doors open into the common area, Peter sees Natasha and Bucky on the sofa, both reading, and Tony at the kitchen island. He figures FRIDAY has initiated the ‘what lab?’ protocol, which will lock Tony out of the three private labs for the remainder of the day, in order to force him to eat, sleep, and socialize with the rest of the Tower.

“How was your day?”

Natasha looks up from her book, and immediately narrows her eyes at the two spiders.

“What’s in your jacket?”

Niko doesn’t get a chance to answer, because the kitten pokes her head out of the neck of his sweatshirt and meows. Tony whirls around and stands, walking towards them.

“No, no, no. I am not letting a cat run around here all willy nilly.”

“Who says willy nilly anymore?” Peter asks, just as Nikolai says, “why not? You let Clint run around here.”

Natasha snorts in amusement and Tony turns to glare at her, but Peter can see a smile on his face. He turns back to the pair.

“I do. And while Clint is very childish, he _is_ still a human being.”

The kitten begins to crawl her way out of Niko’s sweatshirt, and the boy’s metal arm is quick to catch her. His other hand begins to lightly scratch under the kitten’s chin. The small frown on Tony’s face melts away at the sight of the kitten with three legs.

“She was freezing to death out there, Tony. Please.”

Tony sighs as Peter directs his best puppy eyes towards him. Then, Nikolai does the same. At the same time, the kitten looks up at him and mewls softly. Tony groans in defeat. “Fine.”

Peter grins and throws his arms around Tony’s neck to hug him. He releases the man, then turns to Nikolai. “Do you want to help me make her a prosthetic?”

Niko grins and nods, following Peter back into the elevator and down to the boy’s lab.


	4. Strike Me Down Where I Sit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flash gets got, Peter is a dramatic boi, and Ned is awesome.

Niko sits next to Peter in his lab, drawing up schematics to make a prosthetic for the kitten wandering around the empty table. Peter has been almost ecstatic when he realizes Niko was as proficient with technology and science as he was, and therefore able to help Peter. A few hours later, in which Peter and Niko decide to call the kitten Boo, Peter proudly presents the tiny black leg to the kitten, who sniffs it before butting Peter’s hand with her head.

Nikolai laughs. “I think that means she likes it. Here, hold her while I put it on her.”

Peter nods and takes Boo in his lap, holding her still as Niko attaches the leg to her fur. As he does, he tells Peter how he is doing it, so he knows how to take it on and off. Niko informs him it works the same way for himself and Bucky as well. After the leg is secured, Peter sets Boo on the ground. She sniffs at her new leg, before tottering around the lab for a few minutes, getting used to the device attached to her. She mewls and headbutts Nikolai’s leg, making him laugh.

“Peter, Boss has initiated the ‘what lab?’ protocol for yourself and Nikolai. Please exit the lab now.”

Peter rolls his eyes but makes sure everything in his lab is shut off before gesturing to Niko. They leave the lab and behind them, the door beeps as it’s locked. They get in the elevator and head towards the common area, with Boo weaving in between their legs. When the doors open, the kitten shoots out, exploring her new home. Everyone besides Tony, Bucky, and Natasha turn towards the pair of spiders in varying degrees of confusion, curiosity, and exasperation.

Peter just grin. “We got a kitten. Her name is Boo.”

Clint laugh. “Did you name her that because she’s white as a ghost?”

Peter shrug nonchalantly. “Maybe we named her after Boo from Monsters Inc.”

Behind him, Nikolai shakes his head silently, causing Clint to burst out laughing. Peter turns around and pouts at Niko, who shrugs innocently. Peter shoves his shoulder lightly as he laughs, then joins the team in the living room. Boo eventually wanders down from the upper floors and settles in Nikolai’s lap, batting at his metal fingers with her paws. Natasha manages to snap a picture without his knowledge.

It takes another three months for Nikolai to feel ready enough to begin attending Midtown with Peter. During those three months, the whole team helps him adjust to the world around him. Also during that time, he’s grown closer to Peter and the rest of the team, even feeling comfortable enough to think of Bucky and Natasha as his parents.

(Natasha almost cries when Niko calls her Mom for the first time. It’s five in the morning, he’s barely awake, and he doesn’t realize until hours later that he said it.)

* * *

On the Monday that Niko will begin attending Midtown, Peter wakes up to his alarm, groaning. He hates waking up this early, but he has to if he wants to make it to school on time. Once his brain is fully awake, he springs into action, showering and dressing with inhuman speed. Peter is excited to show Niko around his school. After making sure his bag is packed, he bounds down the stairs to the kitchen. Nikolai is already there, sipping coffee from a mug. Boo is lying next to his hand on the island, trying and failing to steal a waffle from Niko’s plate.

“Ready to go to school?”

Niko shrugs, fiddling with the sleeve of his sweatshirt, which is actually one he stole from Natasha, who in turn stole it from Bucky.

“What’s wrong?”

“Are you sure I’m ready for this?”

Peter sighs softly and covers Niko’s hands with his own. “Yes. You’ve been adjusting really well to the world. And you’ve got me. I’ll be with you the whole day, alright? Tony made sure that we have the same schedule, so you’ll always have somebody you know in class.”

Niko nods, and then smiles when Boo butts his hand to demand affection.

“What’s for breakfast?”

“Mom made some waffles. She left some for you over there.”

He nods towards the counter next to the stove, and sure enough there was a plate with five waffles on it. Peter grabs it and eats quickly, finishing his cup of hot chocolate in the process. After he places the plate in the sink, he turns to Niko.

“Are you ready?”

Niko drains his cup of coffee and puts it in the sink before nodding. Peter smiles at him and the two walk to the elevator together. They head to the back parking lot of the Tower, where all the employees park, and get in Peter’s car. Even though his birthday was in August, Tony gifted him one of his cars that he had modified so Karen was installed in it. Now, Happy doesn’t have to act as a chauffeur since Karen could drive the car. The ride to school is pretty uneventful, with Peter and Nikolai passing the time by talking about school. Niko plans on joining the Decathlon team with Peter, since Peter has told him a little about it and he seems interested. When they pull up to the school, most of the students don’t pay them any attention, which Niko seems grateful for. They enter the building and meet up with Ned at his locker. He grins at them.

“Peter!”

Peter laughs. “Ned! This is Niko. Niko, this is Ned.”

Niko nods. “The awesome best friend.”

Ned blushes as Peter nods. The warning bell rings, so the trio head to their first class.

“So Niko, where are you from? I can hear you have an accent, but I can’t figure out where it’s from.”

Nikolai smiles slightly. “Russia.”

Ned gasps excitedly. “Really? That’s so cool!”

Now it’s Nikolai’s turn to blush as he rubs the back of his neck. His shy smile slides off his face as the voice of Flash Thompson sneers behind them.

“Hey new kid, why don’t you go back to whatever hell hole you crawled out of. Nobody wants you here!”

Ned turns to face Flash. “Shut up, Flash. He didn’t do shit to you.”

Flash scoffs. “Nobody asked you, marshmallow.”

Niko’s jaw tightens, but Peter just puts his hand on the other boy’s arm and shakes his head. “Ignore him, Niko.”

Flash continues to taunt them as they walk to class. Even once they enter the classroom, Flash keep harassing them. They ignore it for the most part, until Flash unfortunately caught a glimpse of Niko’s metal arm.

“What’s with the arm? Are you a wannabe Winter Soldier? Ready to kill some people?”

Flash’s friends laugh at the insult, but Nikolai tenses in his seat, gripping the metal table so hard it bends slightly. Peter tries to calm him down, to no avail.

“Maybe I am. Maybe I’ve done worse things than the Winter Soldier. I suggest you eff off before you find out just how powerful my arm is.”

Flash goes to retort, looking angry, but Mrs. Spencer enters the classroom and tells him to sit down.

The rest of the school day passes without incident. Nikolai goes to Decathlon practice with MJ, Ned, and Peter. Mr. Harrington says he wants to see how Niko could handle the pressure of competition, and Flash volunteers to be his opponent.

Peter has trouble stifling his laughter when his friend crushes Flash. Nikolai is welcomed onto the team with no complaints, and Mr. Harrington hands the reins over to MJ to begin practice.

The practice goes well, and Nikolai seems to fit in with the rest of the team. When MJ finishes the practice questions, Mr. Harrington gets the team’s attention.

“I have some exciting news! I just got the confirmation that in a month, we will be going on a field trip, as a reward for doing so well at Nationals last year.”

Everyone breaks into excited whispers, and Mr. Harrington has to shush them so he can speak.

“We will be spending two days at Stark Industries!”

The team cheers, then quiets so Mr. Harrington can give them more information about the trip. Peter doesn’t hear any of it, because he’s too busy sinking into a pit of dread. His team is going on an overnight field trip to the place he lives and works. Oh no.

“So, get a permission slip on your way out and turn it in by next Monday’s practice with your parent’s signature. And remember, if your grades drop in any of your classes, you will not be allowed to go on the field trip!”

Peter groans and drops his head onto the table. “Thor, if you’re listening, strike me down where I sit.”


	5. The Child Assassin You Idiots Decided to Keep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter is bored, Nikolai is angry, and HYDRA is fucked.

When Peter and Niko get home, Tony’s sitting on the couch, looking smug. Peter flings a ball of paper at him and hits him square in the nose. Tony simply grins and uncrumples the permission slip. He produces a pen from his pocket and signs the slip with a flourish (with the fake name he had given the school), before crumpling it back up and tossing it to Peter, who catches it with a grumble.

Peter glowers at Tony and goes into the kitchen. Niko just takes his own slip out and hands it to Natasha as he passes by the island to grab a snack. As he passes by again, on the way to his room, he picks up the signed slip (with another fake name) and leans down to accept Natasha’s kiss on his cheek. Boo appears on the steps and mewls as Nikolai makes his way over to her.

He and Peter both come to a stop on the staircase, just outside of view of the common area, when FRIDAY says, “Boss, Director Fury wishes to speak to you, Agent Romanov, and Sergeant Barnes. He’s on video line one.”

They exchange looks before creeping closer to peer around the corner. Tony, Natasha, and Bucky stand in front of the TV, and Niko can see the screen in the reflection of the windows across from him. He guesses the man with one eye on the screen is Director Fury.

“We found another HYDRA compound.”

Bucky immediately sighs. “I thought we already took care of all of them. Isn’t HYDRA dismantled?”

A woman comes into view next to Fury, looking down at a data pad. “HYDRA is an idea, and there will always be people around to keep it alive. This compound is from your time, Sergeant Barnes, we weren’t aware of its existence until just recently. Agent Coulson has been tracking a stolen piece of SHIELD technology and found a large energy signature. He tracked it to this base.”

Bucky’s jaw tenses. “Where?”

“It’s in Smolensk, Russia. We’ve also got some intel that there might be vital information about the child assassin you idiots decided to keep.”

Niko stiffens, and Peter’s quick to put a hand on his shoulder both to calm him and keep him from confronting the man on the screen. Out in the living area, Natasha and Bucky are both scowling deeply at the man.

The lady on the screen clears her throat, glancing at Fury. “We figured you would want in on the op.”

Bucky nods as soon as the words leave her mouth. “Yes. When do we go?”

Niko hears Fury telling his parents and Tony that they’ll come to the Tower tomorrow to do a briefing, then the call ends. Natasha closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose, before she calls out.

“You two can come out now.”

Niko steps into view of the living area, dropping his bag to the floor. He peers at the trio of heroes as he steps towards them. “I’m going with you.”

Natasha immediately shakes her head. “No you aren’t.”

“Yes, I am. That intel is about me, about my past. I need to know.”

Bucky looks from Natasha to Nikolai. “And you will. You’ll be the first person to know what we find when we get back.”

Niko glowers at his father. “That’s not good enough. HYDRA ruined my life. They took it away from me and covered my hands in blood, and I am going to make sure they have _nothing_ left. I am going to be on that Quinjet to Smolensk, whether or not you give me permission.”

Bucky stares at him for a minute, but Niko’s gaze never wavers. Eventually, he sighs and looks at Natasha. “Go do your homework, Niko. You too, Pete. We’ll talk about this after dinner, alright?”

Niko huffs slightly, before picking up his bag. He turns on his heel and passes Peter, entering his bedroom. Peter follows him, setting his bag next to the door. Nikolai drops his bag on the floor and jumps onto the ceiling, pacing with a huff. Peter jumps onto the ceiling and settles into one of the hammocks set up in each corner of the room, watching him.

As he paces, Nikolai mutters angrily in Russian. Peter, who had been taught Russian by his spider mother when he moved in, hears every word. From her place on Nikolai’s bed, Boo watches him pace with large blue eyes.

“Niko, calm down, it’s alright. They’re going to think about it, okay? It’s going to be fine, even if you don’t get to go.”

Niko stops pacing and turns to look at Peter. Peter recoils, because Niko’s mad glare is on par with Natasha’s and Bucky’s.

“I will be going, no matter what.”

Peter nods, looking alarmed. Nikolai forces himself to calm down. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

“Sorry, sorry.” he says, glancing at Peter almost shyly.

Peter gives the boy a reassuring smile as he sets aside the homework he had pulled out and stands, making his way over to him. He grips Niko’s shoulders and looks him in the eye. “It’s okay, Niko. Alright? HYDRA is going to regret the day they ever took you from your family.”

Niko gives him a bashful smile before surprising Peter by pulling him into a hug. Niko’s not really big on touching, but he seems to trust Peter enough to allow it. Even then, Niko has never initiated contact with anyone before, so Peter feels honored as he hugs Niko back.

“Come on, let’s get this homework done.”

“Course. Hey, have you thought about doing something so Boo can get up to the hammocks?”

* * *

After finishing their homework, Peter and Niko decide to design a way for Boo to travel from the ground to the ceiling hammocks. It’s fairly simple. They decided to order a cat tower for her and put it near one of the hammocks with an attachment ramp on the top so she can get to the hammock. Then, they figured they could attach a border all around the room, so the kitten can travel from hammock to hammock as she pleases.

They’re just finishing up when FRIDAY tells them dinner is almost here. They pack their designs up and head down to the kitchen with Boo on their heels. Peter’s happy to see that Niko is relaxed after the confrontation earlier in the day. Relaxed enough that the spider went over to his mother, who’s perched on the island watching Bucky and Steve banter back and forth, and pull her into a hug.

Natasha doesn’t even try to hide her surprise at the hug, but hugs the boy back anyways.

“What’s this for?”

“‘M sorry, Мама. For arguing.”

Natasha hums and pulls back so she can look her kid in the face. She reaches up and brushes a lock of hair out of his face. “Don’t be. I understand how important this is for you, and every teenager argues with their parents.”

Niko chuckles and looks away, his eyes following his nose as FRIDAY informs them that the pizza is in the elevator.

* * *

Dinner is an interesting affair. They’re spread out on the various sofas and chairs, and floor, in the living room. It’s mostly lighthearted conversations as they ate, until the end of dinner when Bucky clears his throat to get Steve’s attention. Peter doesn’t pay attention to his quiet voice, as he figures Bucky is simply telling the blonde what he and Niko already know. He can’t ignore Steve’s loud shout, however.

“What?!”

Beside him, Niko winces at the loudness as everyone in the room turns to look at Steve curiously. The man is fuming, and his poor plate is suffering the brunt of it. Tony reaches over and tries to pry the now cracked plate from his grasp, but he’s too late as it shatters and falls at the Captain’s feet. Sam, who’s sitting nearby, scrambles away as shards of plate fly everywhere.

“Steve, what the hell was that?”

Steve’s jaw tenses as he grumbles, “There’s a HYDRA base we missed. Fury’s coming to brief Bucky and Natasha tomorrow about it.”

Natasha glances towards the super soldier. “And Niko.”

Nikolai looks up at that, smiling slightly. It slips off his face when Steve begins to turn a delicate shade of purple. “What?”

The quiet hiss is enough to send people away from the common area. Sam, Wanda, Bruce, Clint and even Vision are quick to drop their plates off in the sink and hightail it out of the room. Only Pepper, Peter, and Tony remain with the four.

Steve steps over the shards and begins to pace, his socked feet moving almost robotically. Nikolai sets his plate on the coffee table and stans as well, crawling up the wall to hang from the ceiling. That’s something everyone has noticed about the boy. When he gets agitated or overwhelmed, he tends to crawl up on the walls or to the ceiling, luckily only at home though.

Peter moves to sit closer to Pepper and Tony, leaning against Pepper’s legs as they sit in the tense silence for a few minutes.

“You’re bringing a child, _your child_ , on a mission to clear out a HYDRA base?”

Bucky stands, looking his best friend in the eye. “Yes, we are. And I don’t really see how it’s your concern, Steve.”

Steve stops pacing and scowls at the man. “Not my concern? It’s not his, either! He is a child.”

“He has a right to be there!”

“But he shouldn’t have to! HYDRA already destroyed his life, and you want to bring him back to that very organization? He’s just an innocent kid, Buck, he doesn’t need to see all of that!”

“I’m not innocent.” From the ceiling, Nikolai speaks quietly, staring at Steve. All eyes turn up to look at him.

“What?”

Niko jumps down, right in between Bucky and Steve, staring at the blonde. “I’m not an innocent kid to protect. I’ve done bad shit, and yeah it wasn’t my fault or choice, but I still did it. I’ve seen things, done horrible things, things you can’t possibly imagine. So you don’t need to protect me.”

Steve seems at a loss for words.

“And did you ever think that I want to go? You're right, HYDRA took everything from me, and that’s exactly why I want to go on this mission. I am going to take everything from them, just like they did to me.”

Natasha stands now, placing a gentle hand on the shoulders of both her boys. “Steve, the only reason we even played with the idea of letting him go is because there’s intel about him there. He deserves to be the first one to read it. HYDRA owes him that much, at least.”

Steve seems to deflate as the pair speak to him. Finally, he speaks, and his voice sounds hoarse from trying not to yell. “They owe him a helluva lot more than that. It’s your choice, not mine. Can I go too, though?”

Bucky smiles and pats his friend’s shoulder. “‘Course.”

* * *

Fury is coming to do a briefing today, so that means Niko has to stay home and Peter goes to school by himself. That’s not really a bad thing, but that means Peter had to remember to turn in both his and Niko’s permission slips. If he doesn’t turn them in today, there’s a high chance they won’t be turned in at all. Peter doesn’t particularly mind that outcome, but he knows he’d rather tour the Tower than be the only member of Decathlon at school.

The day passes rather uneventfully. Ned asks after Niko, and Peter quietly tells him that Niko’s preparing for a mission. Ned almost squeals in excitement, which makes MJ roll her eyes behind them. During class, Flash also asks about Niko, though he did so with malicious intent and isn’t given the satisfaction of a response.

When Peter turns in both of the permission slips during science class, Mr. Harrington glances up at him with narrowed eyes. “Peter, it says you and Nikolai will not be riding the bus to or from Stark Industries? Would you care to explain?”

Mr. Harrington is a nice man, and he chooses to give Peter the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his internship, but he doesn’t know that Peter _lived_ in the Tower.

“Oh, well Niko and I both have internships there so we figured we could go over there a little early to work on some projects before the field trip. And Friday’s are usually a day we go over there after school so there’s no need for us to go to the school just to go back to the Tower.”

Mr. Harrington gives him a long look, before he nods and waves Peter back to his seat. He slumps in his seat and lets out a breath of relief. He wonders how Nikolai was doing right now.

* * *

Nikolai is trying so hard to sit still. He’s always been a very fidgety person, and HYDRA had let him fidget to an extent, but Director Nick Fury doesn’t. Niko had gotten the idea that the man didn’t like him from the video call he had listened in on, but it’s clear as day in person. When he had arrived, Niko had been sitting in between Natasha and Bucky in the conference room a floor under Bruce’s lab. Boo was sitting in his lap, mewling for attention.

Fury had glowered at him, but hadn’t said anything. The lady from the video call, who Niko learns is named Maria Hill, followed in behind Fury, and the two got right down to business. During the briefing, Niko stays quiet, simply watching and listening as he taps the end of his pen on the table. Fury stops in the middle of his sentence to glare at Nikolai, so he quits playing with his pen with a soft huff.

Now they’re going over the plan to infiltrate the base. They had extensive blueprints of the building and security system, so they’re pulled up on the holographic screens covering the walls. Still, Niko’s listening rather than speaking, studying the blueprints.

“The power for everything is located here” Tony points to a small building in the middle of a cluster of buildings. “It’s a very large panel on a wall. Problem is, all the surveillance reports say that there’s an electrical field around the entire compound and motion sensors on all the doors, so we can’t enter any buildings without setting off an alarm. Even if we could get past those, the entire hallway is basically a minefield of electric charges waiting to fry any dummy that tries to set foot in there.”

Natasha studies the information about the security system before pointing to a sentence. “This says that there’s about eighteen inches from the top of the charges to the ceiling. That’s where you come in, Niko.”

Nikolai looks at the plans, nodding. Fury raises an eyebrow. “How? This kid isn’t Spider-Man.”

Nikolai tenses at the mention of Peter, and Natasha gently places her hand over his clenched fist.

“No, he’s not. But he’s got many of the same abilities. Wall-climbing, for instance. He can get to the panel.”

Fury scowls at Nikolai, who stares back at him. After a short but tense stretch of silence, Fury nods once.

“Fine.”

Natasha looks at Nikolai. “Do you think you can get through without burning yourself to a crisp?”

Niko scoffs slightly. “Of course I can. But how am I supposed to get in, if the whole compound is shielded by an electrical field?”

“We can short out a tiny section of the field on the roof, big enough for you to get in. I can get you up there.”

Niko nods to Tony, and sits back as they made the rest of the plan. The briefing ends with Fury telling them they’ll head towards Russia in two days' time. Long enough for SHIELD to set up a small area to continue surveillance and gather necessary information.

* * *

Two days is also enough time for Tony, Peter, and Niko to make a suit and some gear for him. Tony plans on making Niko his own AI, but there isn't enough time to do that before the mission, so he’s without one for now.

Nikolai stays home from school for those two days, so that he can help Tony finish his suit and also get used to wearing it. It all seems to pass in the blink of an eye for him. Before he knows it, he’s getting on the Quinjet to go to Russia with his parents, Steve, and Tony.

His suit is much like Bucky’s. An all black tactical suit with a belt for ammunition and other equipment. His face, and therefore identity, is hidden by a mask that wraps around his head and covers his whole face but leaves the top of his head uncovered. It’s really more of a muzzle, he supposes, but that’s what he’s comfortable with.

He sits next to Natasha on the Quinjet with his mask resting on his thigh. They’re going over the plan one more time. Coulson and his small team had been successful in shorting out a space in the field over the roof, just big enough for Niko to fit in. They can’t do it any bigger, or else the people in the compound will notice. Tony’ll get Niko to the roof, then will get out of dodge and wait with the team while he disables the power. After that, they’ll take the compound. Natasha and Nikolai will go for the data while the team clears out the compound and recovers the stolen tech. Coulson himself will stay behind with his two technicians to be their eyes in the sky, so to speak.

It’s fairly straightforward, but Niko has to be careful. None of this worked if he screws up.

The rest of the flight is spent getting into mission mode. When Steve, from the cockpit, calls that they’re two minutes out, Nikolai puts his mask on, then begins checking his equipment. The rest of the team are checking their equipment as well.

They get off the Quinjet and meet Coulson and his team. Nikolai’s suit automatically warms to keep the boy from passing out in the cold. Steve shakes Coulson’s hand.

“The compound is three miles south from here. We’ve got a couple snowmobiles for transportation purposes. Ready when you are, Captain.”

Steve looks at each of his team members, before returning his gaze to Coulson. “Let’s move out.”

He gestures to four snowmobiles and the team readies themselves. Steve gets on one, and Bucky perches on the back with his gun held aloft, acting as a sentry. Coulson’s four guys do the same on two other snowmobiles. Natasha gets on the last one, starting it. Niko perchs behind her, not worried about losing his balance.

The snowmobiles rev and begin speeding towards the compound. It’s a quick ride, only a few minutes long until the snowmobile engines are cut off at the edge of the woods. Nikolai hops off the snowmobile and looks around. The compound’s a football field away. He glances up at the sky, finding Tony hovering a few feet from a tree.

“Ready, Ghostie?”

Nikolai nods and raises his hand. As Tony flies towards him, he grabs it. When they get over the roof of the compound, Niko hears Tony asking FRIDAY to scan for the opening in the field. He points to it.

“It’s right below you, okay? Be careful, your mom will kill me if I get you fried.”

Niko smiles behind his mask and drops into the hole. As he lands on the roof, he can feel the electrical currents on his back, and is quick to pry open the door on the roof. Carefully, he crawls inside and looks down. The currents inside are stronger than on the roof, and it makes Niko suck in a breath.

The panel is up ahead, past the hallway of Thor. He scurries along the ceiling, carefully dropping down to the ground when he finally reaches the end. He looks at the panel, then finds the switches he’s looking for flips them off. He runs through the hallway and jumps up to the roof, signalling to the team. They rush the compound, and Nikolai is quick to get to his mother. While the team is taking out the many HYDRA agents, the pair of spiders make their way to the mainframe room. Niko scans the screens as Natasha copies all of the data. Niko makes a noise and points to a file on the screen named ‘Project Spider’.

Natasha opens the file and Niko reads it quickly. As he reads the file, the table underneath his fingers begin to bend, more and more until the metal snaps. Natasha, done copying the data, tries to pry the shard of table out of her kid’s grip, then jerks her hands back when he stabs the piece of metal into the computer.

The computer sparks, and a piece of paper next to it catches fire. The flames begin to spread across the desk, but Nikolai doesn’t move from where he has slumped against the table. Natasha tugs on his shoulder and he suddenly stands, tearing off his mask to reveal blazing blue eyes.

“I’m going to kill them. I’m going to kill all of them!”

Natasha, slightly frightened at the outburst but refusing to show it, tries to keep him from walking out the door and killing every HYDRA agent in sight. Niko shoves her backwards, and her arm lands on the burning table. She jerks it away from the flames with a hiss, holding it close to her body as she hurries after the dangerous boy.


	6. They’ll Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter is worried, Natasha knows how to emotion, and HYDRA is really fucked now.

Nobody realizes Nikolai is killing HYDRA agents until the compound is almost clear. Steve’s closest to him when he sees the mass of unmoving bodies the boy has left in his wake. His fist is raised, and he holds a knife dripping with blood. Looking at the boy, it’s clear he’s injured but doesn’t care. There’s blood oozing down the side of his face, from a gash above his eye, and Steve is fairly certain there’s blood staining his jacket from what looked to be a bullet hole in his side.

“Ghost! _Niko!_ ”

The blonde sprints towards Niko, tackling him to the ground. The knife clatters to the ground, and Steve’s unnerved and concerned at the wild look in his icy blue eyes. He struggles to hold the boy down, and when Natasha comes running into the room, clutching her left arm close to her body and holding Nikolai’s mask, Steve knows something is very, very wrong.

“Bucky! Tony! Get your asses over here, now!”

His voice must tell Tony that any ‘language’ jokes would be highly unwise, as the communications line remains silent. Less than a minute later, Iron Man comes zooming down the hallway and joins the Captain in holding Nikolai down, no questions asked. When Bucky comes rushing in, he zeros in on Natasha.

“What the hell happened?”

The question is loaded, everyone can tell by the way Natasha’s eyes show her unease. “I’ll tell you when we get out of here, a fire started in the mainframe room, it’s spreading quickly. We have to go, now.”

Steve and Tony haul Niko to his feet, and Tony wraps his arms around him to keep him restrained as he flies him out of the compound. Steve, Bucky, Natasha, and the SHIELD agents hightail it after them.

* * *

Peter is jolted from sleep as FRIDAY’s voice blares loudly in the common area. If an AI could sound urgent or distressed, Peter’s sure FRIDAY would be right now.

“Dr. Banner, please go to the medical bay at once. The team is returning and Mr. Petrov needs to be attended to.”

Bruce, from where he sits next to Peter’s feet on the couch, puts his cup of tea on the coffee table and heads for the elevator. Peter, instantly awake, follows closely behind him. By the time they reach the medical bay, Tony is carrying an unconscious and bloody Nikolai in.

Peter wants to check to make sure he’s still alive, but he restrains himself to watching Bruce and listening to the boy’s slightly irregular heartbeat.

About an hour or so later, Bruce sits back and takes his glasses off, wiping them on his shirt. Peter, moving to sit next to Nikolai’s bed, looks at the doctor. “How bad is it?”

Bruce sighs and places his glasses back on his nose. “Pretty bad. Nine stitches for the gash above his eye, a bullet hole in his right side and three broken ribs. I took a blood sample and I’m going to analyze it to see if his healing rate is the same as Peter’s, and assuming it is, he’ll be sore for a few days.”

He turns to glance at Natasha, who has peeled the top half of her suit off to reveal her burned forearm. “But first, somebody else needs to get looked at.”

Natasha sighs and sits next to Bruce, letting him clean and bandage her burn. “Natasha, what happened in there?”

Natasha glances up at Steve’s concerned face and shakes her head. “I honestly don’t know. He was reading files from a folder called Project Spider, and then he just snapped. He broke the metal table, stabbed a computer screen with a shard, and ran out of there like a bat out of hell. He said he was going to kill every HYDRA agent in the compound.”

As silence falls in the medical bay, all eyes land on the unconscious boy.

* * *

It takes Nikolai three hours to wake up. In that time, Bruce had been able to analyze his blood and determine that his healing rate was almost as fast as Peter’s. When he finally opens his eyes, Peter nearly cries, he’s so relieved.

FRIDAY alerts the rest of the team, who had all been forced out of the room by Bruce and Dr. Cho, who had been called to check Nikolai for any other injuries. When they come in, Niko eyes Natasha’s bandaged arm sadly.

“‘M sorry, мама.”

Natasha pats the boy’s leg gently. “It’s alright. I know you didn’t mean it, паучок. Do you wanna tell us what happened back there?”

Niko sighs and looks down at his hands. Peter can hear his heart rate steadily rising, and puts his hand over Niko’s, his thumb rubbing soothing circles over the skin on the back of his hand. Niko slowly turns his hand over to clasp with Peter’s, looking up to catch his eyes. He looks back at the team, and Peter squeezes his hand.

“HYDRA… HYDRA killed my family.”

Peter’s eyes widen, before he climbs on the bed next to Nikolai and carefully slings his arm around his shoulders and pulls him into a hug. Niko sniffles and burrows his face into Peter’s neck for a second, breathing him in.

Peter’s face reddens, and he glares at Tony as he holds back a snort. Then, Niko lifts his head back up to keep speaking.

“The file I read, it was about my family. My parents were HYDRA, but they defected. They were feeding SHIELD information that could’ve brought the whole organization down, so HYDRA killed them. They set our house on fire and my parents died trying to get to the room I was in. I got out, but HYDRA took me.They had information about their DNA, so they knew it was more susceptible to mutation. That’s why they wanted me. And,”

Nikolai swallows, looking away from everybody, whispering. “I had a sister. HYDRA took us both for testing.”

Peter can see Bucky’s eyes hardening as he listens to the boy’s broken murmuring. “She died during testing. HYDRA killed her.”

Peter squeezes Niko’s shoulders softly, and Bucky sits on the other side of him, putting a gentle hand on his leg. “They'll pay for what they’ve done to you, Niko.”

Niko looks up at him, then down at his metal arm. “They did this to me. Didn’t we used to wonder about these burns? HYDRA gave them to me. They gave these burns to me the night they lit my house on fire and killed my parents. They will do more than pay. They’ll _burn_.”


	7. Hi All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not a chapter

Hi All I have returned with some news that is probably v annoying by now. Sorry :(

it’s been a while since I’ve written for this story, and I’m sorry for that. I’ve been focusing on my Harry Potter story, since it’s the one I’ve been able to actually write for and not absolutely hate what I’ve written down. But, today I’ve had some inspiration for a scene for this story that is many many many many _many_ chapters in the future and that got me thinking about this story and where I’ve sorta planned it to go from here to it’s eventual conclusion.

While rereading through what I have of this story, both posted and unposted, I’ve realized I’m kind of unsatisfied with how it’s moving along. Namely, just the fact that it seems to move pretty fast for me, and I don’t like it. I also find myself disliking the decision I made to write the story in present tense.

with this in mind, I’ve decided to perform major renovations (? Is that the word? I know it’s the word for homes and buildings lol) to this story. My question to you is:

Would you rather I simply made the edits to this story and kept the comments, notes, and the like;

or, would you rather I deleted this story (again), and reuploaded it with the changes?

Lmk cause I always feel bad for deleting and reuploading the same story all the time, but there are also lots of changes I’m making so idk

sorry for all this, and I hope y’all will still stick around after the changes have been made


End file.
